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Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Elena Rybakina have fallen just short of winning the Adelaide International 2 doubles title after losing to Luisa Stefani and Taylor Townsend. Stefani and Townsend, who were unseeded, defeated Pavlyuchenkova and Rybakina in two tight sets 7-5 7-6 (3).
Pavlyuchenkova and Rybakina, who debuted as a team during last year's French Open, won each of their first three matches in Adelaide in straight sets. Then, Pavlyuchenkova and Rybakina suffered a straight-set defeat, which came against Stefani and Townsend - who debuted as a team during the Adelaide 2 tournament.
How Stefani, Townsend defeated Pavlyuchenkova and Rybakina
Stefani and Townsend got off to a perfect start to the match, breaking Pavlyuchenkova and Rybakina in the very first game of the match. In the second game, Pavlyuchenkova and Rybakina had two break points to get the break back but didn't realize as Stefani and Townsend took a 2-0 lead.
In the third game, Stefani and Townsend missed out on a break point to go up by a double break as Pavlyuchenkova and Rybakina managed to cut the deficit to 2-1. Two games later, Stefani and Townsend again had a chance to go up by a double break but Pavlyuchenkova and Rybakina saved two break points to cut the deficit to 3-2.
After saving break points in the third and fifth games, Pavlyuchenkova and Rybakina got the break back to tie the first set to three games apiece. But after just getting the break back, Pavlyuchenkova and Rybakina again lost their serve as Stefani and Townsend claimed a break in the seventh game to open a 4-3 lead.
In the 10th game - when Stefani and Townsend had a chance to serve out for the first set - Pavlyuchenkova and Rybakina saved a set point to get the break back and tie the first set to five games apiece. But just after getting a break back, Pavlyuchenkova and Rybakina again lost their serve as Stefani and Townsend claimed a break in the 11th game to open a 6-5 lead.
In the 12th game, Stefani and Townsend realized their second set point to win a tight opener. After winning a tight first set, Stefani and Townsend broke Pavlyuchenkova and Rybakina in the third game of the second set to take a 2-1 lead.
Down by a set and a break, Pavlyuchenkova and Rybakina responded as they broke back Stefani and Townsend in the fourth game to tie the second set to two games apiece. But Stefani and Townsend kept pressing Pavlyuchenkova and Rybakina, breaking them in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead.
In the ninth and 10th games, Stefani and Townsend missed out on two match points as Pavlyuchenkova and Rybakina managed to send the second set into a tie-break. In the tie-break, Stefani and Townsend took a 4-0 lead and from that moment there was no coming back for Pavlyuchenkova and Rybakina.
Stefani and Townsend missed out on their first four championship points but realized their fifth match point to complete a two-set win over Pavlyuchenkova and Rybakina.